Weapon X's C7 Makes 1,000 Horsepower From a Hopped Up LT1

Although the powerplant in this Weapon X Motorsports Corvette build is far from stock, it shows that the LT1 is capable of accepting a number of different modifications to take it to the next level.

By Joseph Coelho - September 22, 2017

Weapon of Choice

The engineers at Chevrolet are limited by a myriad of constraints such as federal safety standards, CAFE fuel standards, and emissions requirements when designing a car. With such limitations in place, it is surprising that Chevy is even able to produce a sports car all, let alone a mass-produced, tire-burning, 455 horsepower C7 Corvette. The point is, Chevy has made a great car in the C7 Vette, but one has to wonder what kind of car the Corvette team may have come up with if they were not bound by these restraints. Ben Herndon (co-owner of Weapon X Motorsports) shows us the potential of the Vette with these limitations all but removed.

Curves In All The Right Places

From the get-go, the Weapon X C7, coined "Weapon 7" was purchased as a test bed for the company's widebody kit design, which looks undoubtedly awesome. This particular car is sporting their Stage 3 widebody kit that features a carbon front splitter, rear carbon diffuser, carbon rocker blades, carbon Z07-style spoiler, 3" wider rear fender arches with matching quarter panels, rockers, rear bumper, and vents. The car also uses their Weapon 7 carbon hood which maximizes airflow for superior cooling while also providing additional room for intake modifications. To fill the fenders and finish off the widebody look, Herndon worked with PUR Wheels on the design and eventually came up with the concave PUR RS05.MV2 in 20X10 fronts and 21x12.5 rears.

Bare Block Build

Herndom claims he had no intention of keeping the car long term as he already had an allocation for the then all-new Z06. However, amidst rumors of the Z06 being supercharged, he decided to keep the car and modify the engine with cubic-inches in mind. The like-new 1,500 mile LT1 was completely stripped down and the block sent to BES Racing Engines where 4.125-inch Darton sleeves were installed. Herdon opted for a set of custom Wiseco performance pistons paired to Callies Ultra forged connecting rods and a Callies Magnum Series III crankshaft. Brian Tooley of Brian Tooley Racing spec'd an aggressive camshaft with a 0.650/0.630-inch lift and 238/258 duration to which he entrusted Comp Cams with the custom grind. Landspeed Development massaged the stock LT1 heads to flow an impressive 405cfm with CNC porting and the fitment of 2.25" intake & 1.65" exhaust valves. The intake was also ported and flowed for extra horsepower, and the installation of heavier valve springs and upgraded rocker trunnions help stabilize the valvetrain of the high-revving 427ci LT1. Needless to say, this engine is far from stock!

Proficient Plumbing

With the newly built engine buttoned up, the focus was then turned towards the cooling system, intake, exhaust, and nitrous kit setup. To keep the engine cool, a high-flow Dewitt's radiator with Late Model Racecraft 160 degree thermostat was used in conjunction with the previously mentioned carbon fiber hood. On the intake side of things, the stock throttle body was ported and mated to a carbon-fiber Halltech 100mm cold-air-intake with custom ducting from the brake ducts routed into it for additional airflow. American Racing 2" exhaust headers were coupled to a Billy Boat Fusion 3" exhaust. The topping on the cake was a single stage Nitrous Express direct-port nitrous system.

Durabable Drivetrain

To cope with the significant bump in power of the heavily modified LT1, Weapon X reached out to Circle D Transmission to reinforce the 6L80e transmission. When fitting the transmission back into the car, Weapon X opted for a billet Yank torque converter with a 3,500 stall. Additional strengthening of the drivetrain occurred via stage 5 Chromoly axles from Gforce Engineering and a 4" aluminum driveshaft from Precision Shaft Technologies. Additionally, a Setrab dual fan oil cooler setup combined with the larger factory Z06 rear quarter panel transmission cooler was used to extract as much heat out of the car as possible.

The End Result

To fuel the beast with its mixture of E85 and nitrous, a stand-alone fuel management system was needed to control the nitrous charge. However, it is said that this is used in conjunction with the factory E92 ECU. As one could imagine, the ECU parameters required some significant changes to cope with all of the radical modifications made to the car, but when it was finally time to spin the rollers, Weapon 7 made nearly 600 wheel horsepower on motor and a whopping 884 whp with a shot of nitrous. All said and done, the Weapon 7 Vette ran a 10.0 1/4 mile at 141mph, but Herndon feels they can easily dip into the 9's with a bit more tuning and larger nitrous jets. That said, there is no denying that this C7 Corvette by Weapon X Motorsports has enough get up and go to match its incredible level of show.